Stuffed Peppers (Capsicums) or Zeytinyağlı Biber Dolması

After taking a break from posting for VeganMoFo, I am back with another Turkish classic!

Stuffed vegetables, generally, are incredibly difficult to give the right measurements for. It’s simply because that is not how you learn to make them. You sort of develop an eye for it and don’t need measurements along the way. It gives you a great sense of achievement when you get it right the first time.

There is a difference between Istanbul style of stuffed peppers and Mediterranean style. As you move towards to the Eastern part of Turkey, things get hot and spicy. To make things even trickier, everyone’s version is different but at the end of the day, you can’t go wrong.

A tip on creating lids for the peppers: If the lid part breaks apart while you are cutting the tops –which happens a lot –you could use sliced tomatoes as lids.

Method:
• Cut the tops of capsicums and remove the stalks. Get rid of all the seeds and trim down the membranes too.
• Mix together the onion, rice, oil, pine nuts, dried currants, mint, allspice, salt and pepper in a bowl.
• Loosely stuff the peppers and put the lids back on.
• Place them in a small pot and add some boiling water to the level of the lids. If you pass that mark then the stuffing releases itself into the pot and you end up with half-stuffed peppers.
• Cook the peppers over medium heat until their colour is slightly turning yellow and the rice is thoroughly cooked. Afiyet Olsun peoples!